Roseland

Roseland is made up of three separate stories all set in a superannuated New York dance hall in the 1970s. The first features Teresa Wright as a rather pretentious woman living in her past which comes to life for her in a mirror when she dances with a widower, Lou Jacobi, who she believes to be beneath her. The final is a woman (Lilia Skala) who badly wants to win a dance competition called “The Peabody”, even if it’s the last thing she ever does. In between comes a segment starring Christopher Walken a year before his breakout appearance in The Deer Hunter as gigolo stringing three women along with his charms and dance skills. 

Scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala it is a slight but charming film that particularly given that portmanteau films rarely work, manages to impressivelu overcome its loose structure and create a wistfully sad portrait of errant souls living a world apart.

 

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